West Ham's Manuel Lanzini has been charged over diving to win a penalty against Stoke City, the second Premier League player to be targeted under new rules aimed at stamping out cheating.
The 24-year-old...

Businessman Farhad Moshiri has insisted he purchased a major stake in Everton solely with his own funds after a BBC probe into his relationship with Alisher Usmanov, a shareholder in Premier League rivals...

In a milestone for artificial intelligence, a computer has beaten a human champion at a strategy game that requires "intuition" rather than brute processing power to prevail, its makers said Wednesday.
Dubbed...

Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary, and his revolutionary hypothesis has withstood the test of time, despite numerous expert attempts to find flaws.
"Einstein...

The remains of five archbishops of Canterbury have been accidentally discovered by builders in a hidden tomb beneath a London church, site developers said yesterday.
Some 20 lead coffins were discovered...

The first major retrospective of gay British art opens this week at the Tate Britain gallery in London, featuring a portrait of Oscar Wilde next to his prison cell door.
"Queer British Art 1861-1967"...

From Walkmans to iPhones and classic cars to robotic arms, London's new Design Museum will offer a journey through the world of contemporary design when it opens its doors to the public next week.
The...

Harry Potter fans were buzzing with excitement Saturday as "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", a stage play that imagines the fictional boy wizard as a grown-up father of three, opened in London.
After...

Wenger sprang a major surprise by leaving Alexis Sanchez on the bench and the Chile forward was badly missed as Arsenal were blown away in the first half at Anfield.

With Mesut Ozil also absent, due to illness, Arsenal were ill-equipped to match Jurgen Klopp’s fired-up side, who took the lead in the ninth minute when Roberto Firmino met Sadio Mane’s cross with a cool finish at the far post after sloppy Arsenal defending.

Jose Mourinho has challenged his Manchester United stars to use their dramatic League Cup final win against Southampton as a springboard to bigger prizes.

Mourinho lifted the first major trophy of his United reign on Sunday after Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late header clinched a 3-2 victory at Wembley.

The 54-year-old is the first United manager to win a major competition in his maiden season at Old Trafford and the 19th trophy of his glittering career made him only the third boss, after Alex Ferguson and Brian Clough, to enjoy four League Cup triumphs.

Now Mourinho wants his players to learn from the winning feeling as they chase FA Cup and Europa League titles this term, and ideally Premier League and Champions League glory next season.

“The reality is that we want more: my contract is long, I have two more years with this one, so hopefully I can win more,” Mourinho said.

“This season I know it’s difficult, but the reality is we have to try to fight for more.”

Despite harbouring some reservations about his hairstyle, Lawrie McMenemy knows Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the man his old club Southampton must stop in Sunday’s League Cup final against Manchester United.

As Southampton manager, McMenemy led the south-coast club to their greatest success when they produced a huge upset to beat United 1-0 in the 1976 FA Cup final.

Forty-one years on, they are back at Wembley this weekend and McMenemy says the pony-tailed Ibrahimovic, 24 goals and counting in his maiden United season, could prove the difference.

“I’m not sure about his haircut. If you were a centre-half, you’d want to sneak a pair of scissors on. Maybe that could weaken him!” he told AFP in a telephone interview from his home in Hampshire, southern England on Wednesday.

“But he’s proved to be a fantastic player and he looks like he’s a character. He will lap it up, the big stage. You’ve got to watch him.

Around 350 people have come forward to tell British police they were victims of child sexual abuse by football coaches, deepening a scandal that has rocked the sport.

The scale of the abuse began to emerge last week after a string of ex-footballers, including England internationals, told of the crimes inflicted upon them, including years of being repeatedly raped.

The National Police Chiefs' Council said a "significant" number of calls had been made to them after the players spoke out about what they suffered as children.

Announcing the figures, the NPCC said they were based on existing investigations dating back to 2014 as well as a new helpline set up by British charity the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC).

The NSPCC said the helpline received 860 calls in its first week, enabling it to refer 60 cases to police or social services within three days of the hotline launching.

That was more than triple the number of referrals made in the first three days of the helpline set up for victims of Jimmy Savile, a serial paedophile and late BBC television presenter.

"We are working closely with the Football Association to ensure that the response to this significant and growing number of victims, at all levels of football, is co-ordinated effectively," said Chief Constable Simon Bailey, the NPCC's lead officer for child protection.

He encouraged anyone with information about child abuse in football to come forward, "regardless of how long ago the abuse may have taken place".

A quarter of the police forces across Britain are investigating cases that have made daily headlines over the past two weeks.

Greater Manchester Police said they had identified 10 suspects and its inquiry was widening on a daily basis.

"We are investigating reports from 35 victims and we have identified 10 suspects," said GMP Assistant Chief Constable Debbie Ford.

FA chief executive Martin Glenn said on Thursday he does not believe child abuse within British football has been covered up.

"It will help uncover some issues that can't happen again, but do I think there has been a cover-up? I doubt it," said Glenn, whose organisation has established an internal review of the allegations.

- Chelsea investigation -

The scale of the abuse began to emerge after ex-footballers Andy Woodward, Steve Walters and Paul Stewart revealed last week the abuse they suffered at the hands of youth coaches.

Convicted child molester Barry Bennell has been accused by several footballers of abusing them when he worked for Crewe Alexandra, Manchester City and Stoke City across three decades beginning in the 1970s.

He is the target of five separate police investigations and on Tuesday was charged with eight counts of child abuse, prosecutors said.

Former Newcastle United player David Eatock is the latest player to speak out about his suffering.

Police investigations into the sexual abuse of youngsters within English football widened Friday as England captain Wayne Rooney praised victims for speaking out.

Jason Dunford, once a youth player with Premier League giants Manchester City, added to the growing tide of abuse accusations that have rocked the English game by alleging that a football paedophile ring was covered up.

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will slug it out for the world number one ranking in a high-stakes final at the ATP Tour Finals after completing their contrasting paths to the dramatic showdown.

Murray and Djokovic's unprecedented clash for pole position will end with one of the old rivals finishing the year on top of the world after the Scot shattered his rival's 122-week reign at number one earlier this month.

Fittingly, they will bring the curtain down on the ATP season with both the prestigious Tour Finals title and the top spot up for grabs in Sunday's final at London's O2 Arena.

After staging a superb fightback to defeat Milos Raonic 5-7, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (11/9) in Saturday's first semi-final, Murray is just one win away from capping a dream year in perfect fashion.

But Djokovic can say exactly the same after the defending champion thrashed Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-1 in the other semi.

Djokovic, who has a 24-10 lead in his head to head with Murray, said: "This is one of the biggest matches we will ever play against each other. The match everybody anticipated.

"This has never happened in the history of tennis. I'm privileged to be part of history.

"My level had been going in the right direction. Now it's coming up to the last match of the year. I hope we get a great final."

Crucially, Murray might be on his last legs after having to survive a three-hour 39-minute epic against Raonic that ranked as the longest match in Tour Finals history -- eclipsing the record mark set when Murray beat Nishikori in three hours and 20 minutes on Wednesday.

Wawrinka’s defeat means Japan’s Kei Nishikori qualifies as runner-up to Murray in their group, and he will take on defending champion Djokovic in the other semifinal.

Nishikori lost to Djokovic on his previous appearance in the semifinals in 2014.

The 26-year-old Nishikori suffered a frustrating warm-up for his latest meeting with Djokovic as the world No. 5 was beaten 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 by Marin Cilic in the evening session to leave him with two defeats in his three group matches.

Gareth Southgate says he wants to know within weeks whether he will be England's next permanent manager.

The former England centre-back was given the job on a caretaker basis following the Football Association's dramatic decision to dispense with Sam Allardyce, whose one-game reign was ended by controversial comments he made to undercover reporters.

Meanwhile, England captain Wayne Rooney, who returned to the starting line-up against Scotland on Friday, and defender Ryan Bertrand, an unused substitute on Friday, missed Monday's training session at Tottenham Hotspur's training ground in north London with what the Football Association said were "minor issues".

Southgate has been in charge for England's past three games, including England's 3-0 win over old rivals Scotland in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley, a laboured victory over Malta and a goal-less draw away to Slovenia.

Kei Nishikori admits he has been handed a daunting task as the Japanese star tries to finish his season on a high at the ATP Tour Finals.

Nishikori is aiming to reach the final of the prestigious tournament for the first time, but he will have to survive a tough group featuring new world number one Andy Murray, US Open champion Stan Wawrinka and former Grand Slam winner Marin Cilic.

The world number five has lost seven of his nine meetings with Murray and four of his six with Wawrinka.

He has a slight edge in his head to head encounters with Cilic, but the Croatian enjoyed the best win of his life at Nishikori's expense in the 2014 US Open final.

Nishikori, who made the semi-finals of the Tour Finals in 2014, acknowledges he will have to be at his very best to return to the last four at London's O2 Arena.